UNH Law to debut sports and entertainment law institute

The University of New Hampshire’s School of Law will open a Sports and Entertainment Law Institute next fall, giving students the opportunity to focus their studies for a law career in either field.

The institute will be run by Michael McCann, an expert in sports law who started a similar center at the Vermont Law School and has analyzed and represented clients in some of the biggest sports law cases in the last decade, according to a release. McCann has taught at the Mississippi College of Law and Yale Law School. He co-founded the Project on Law and Mind Sciences at Harvard Law School.

The new institute will be housed in the Franklin Pierce Center for Intellectual Property.

“To launch a sports and entertainment law institute as part of this program is a fantastic opportunity,” McCann said in the release. “I can’t wait to work with students in developing hands-on skills in sports and entertainment law, and helping them enter those fields.”

In addition to teaching, McCann serves as a legal analyst and writer for Sports Illustrated and NBA TV. He also served as counsel to Maurice Clarett in a 2004 lawsuit against the NBA for age eligibility rules.

The goal of the institute is to provide students with real-world skills in sports and entertainment law, and students will take a variety of courses across subjects that fit well with either of those fields, according to the statement.